Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-04
THE GREAT STRIKE.
TIE SITUATION VERY IRREGULAR"
Oh TIE sKw YORK PIERS
New Hands Being Gradually Worked In
Vigorous Police Movements-The River
Fronts in o State Of Siege.
lBr telegraph to the Dispatch. J

4 NEN lOhk, ItDfuhIJ -. luS NhaeC
Star steamship Republic and Inman
steamship City of Chicago, scheduled
to sail to-day with transatlantic mails,
did not get off because of the strike.
On the steamship piers there was
much Improvement. Freight was being
moved mostly by new men. There Is
an abundance of unskilled labor to be
had, and the superintendent of the
| docks have more men than they have
| places for. The trouble is that these
men have had no experience at freight
| handling.
The Malloryand Ward Lines are re-
ceiving freight for the South. The situa-
ton is very "irregular." Some of the
steamship lines end coal-handling
branches of railroads are but little in
commoded, those being in the best con-
dition where the strike has lasted long
est, as they have been able to organize
and train new men. Some OF these
have got so far along as to exercise
the right of selection among the
men applying for work, and are
wedding out the men untitled
| for the labor required. From this the
standard degree of disability ranges
down to almost total helplessness where
the strike only took effect yesterday or
to-day. All the freight lines, both land
and water, are somewhat favored by the
fact that shippers are sending nothing
they can withhold, and carriers are also
refusing perishable goods, or goods
that will suffer by delays, except in
such quantities as they can handle.
At the New York Central freight
depot gang of Italians quit work and
| joined the strikers. The master-work
man of an Italian local assembly of
Knights of Labor called at the head
quarters Of the Ocean Association and
told the committee that seventy-five
| Italians, who were working as non-union
men, were willing to strike if admitted
| to the union. The offer was accepted
and the men struck.
Superintendent-of-Police Murray has
taken vigorous measures to repress out
RACES. Inspector Steers has taken
charge Of the police along the piers,
with headquarters Mt Pier 30, North
river, with large force of uniformed
police under his command. The river
fronts are practically in n state of siege.
One thousand police have been massed
in reserve at four different points. Cap
tain Murphy was placed at Pier %,
East river; Captain Sanders at
Pier A, North river, near the
Battery; Captain Yule, at Pier 80,
North river; and Captain Garland, at
Pier 50i, North river. Patrol-wagons
have been stationed at each place, 50
that the whole force can be concen-
trated atany given point in a short time.
The ], 200 men can handle twenty times
that number of rioters One thousand
more are in reserve at police head
quarters. In case OF a riot the
whole force can reach the scene inside
of an hour. In addition fully 100 de-
tectiyes have been detailed for duty
alongshore, wearing plain clothes. The
captains chosen to command the four
divisions are the most moderate-tem-
pered men on the force. They have
been selected as not likely TO provoke a
fight, while fully able to carry. it on if
begun.
Among the nOn-union men brought
to, the Pennsylvania railroad piers to-
day was n gang of twenty negroes.
When they found the strike in progress
they refused to work, saying they had
come under the impression that they
were to lay track.
The police guarded the Savannah
pier to-day for the first time during the
strike. Non-union men are boarded
and lodged on barge at Bulkhead.
They fear trouble in consequence of
the shooting affray on Tuesday night.
The carpet-factory of L. S. Higgins
& Co. was closed again to-day, the
hands-machinists, weavers, and all the
rest-hayingrefused to work. The en-
ployees held a meeting Tuesday, and
decided they would not work whIe the
factory was being run by "scabs." The
Coal Committee called ON the firm and
notified it of the resolution in order to
avoid loss to the firm. However the
hands agreed to work yesterday, so that
the machinery could be shut down on
regular course. This morning no en-
ployee went to work. Work was re-
sumed only Thursday last after a strike
against "a reduction of wages.
The freight-handlers on the Balti-
more and Ohio Pier No. 43, North
riyer, left work this afternoon on being
called out bya delegate They obeyed
with reluctance, rs they have never had
any trouble with the company. They
were the last Of the railroad-men to go
out. The men told Superintendent |
Brooks that they had no grievances,
hut were forced to go out on the call. |
They loaded up all the freight on the |
pier and swept the place clean. The
men refused so accept any pay for their |
work, as they were going out on a call |
by the Union-not on any grievances |
of their own.
The steamer Republic, of the White
Star Line, could not be loaded by green |
hands in time to sail to- day.
The Erin, of the National Line was
in a similar condition. The Morgan
Line pier is choked up with freight,
aud the gates are closed. Green men
have begun to unload the Helvetia.
Regular (non-union) men are adding to
the Cunarder Aurani9f The Roanoke
and Breakwater, of the Old Dominion,
sailed to-day, but not with full cargoes.
A public meeting of businessmen
has been called to meet at Steinway
Hall Saturday night to consider the
cause and cure of the wrongs which
men and others are subjected
% by the controversy between coal
and other companies and |.
heir employees.
\ CONFLICT BETWEEN STRIKERS AID Po-
LICE IN JERSEY CITY.
JERSEY CRY, n. j., February s.
Later reports show that what was first
as a small riot in the yards
# the Erie company was a genuine test
# fighting powers on both sides. The
,oice learned that the strikers intended
0 attack in force the non-union freight
handlers employed in the Erie freight
beds. Hastily gathering fifteen men,
thief Murphy made race to
each the dock first. He arrived with
us mer thoroughly winded by their
0ng run, and found several hundred
trikers held at bay by two regular and